This is the time of year when
many people focus on the birth of Christ. Scripture records this event in both Matthew and Luke as significant, with a
multitude of the heavenly host praising God at his birth (Luke 2:13). The exact
time of Jesus' birth is unknown, as Scripture doesn't specify when it happened.
It seems unlikely to have been in the winter months, as the shepherds were
keeping watch over their flock at night (Luke 2:8), an activity usually
practiced from spring to fall. The traditional date of December 25 has a long
history associated with it in human tradition, but not in the teaching of
Scripture.
Certainly we are thankful that
God sent his Son into the world, for without such there could be no forgiveness of sins, no relationship with God, no promise
of eternal life. "But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his
Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal. 4:4-5).
While Jesus had to be born to accomplish this, the focus of Scripture is not on
his birth, but on his sacrificial life, death, and resurrection from the dead
(Rom. 8:34). Because of this, Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth
(Matt. 28:18).
It's not the child in the manger
that provides the means by which one can be saved, but the man on the cross.
Paul reminded the Ephesians, "But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far
off are made nigh in the blood of Christ" (Eph. 2:13). To the Philippians
he wrote, "Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming
obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:8). To those in
Rome, he declared, "Concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David
according to the flesh, who was declared to be the Son of God with power,
according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead; even
Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 1:3-4).
Many would no doubt prefer that
Jesus remain a child, to be someone idolized and admired, but not to become the man who not only offers salvation, but
a specific life to live for salvation to be realized. Paul exhorted the
Corinthians, "And he died for all, that they that live should no longer live
unto themselves, but unto him who for their sakes died and rose again" (2
Cor. 5:15). The measure of our lives is that of Christ himself (Eph. 4:15), in
whom we live and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). This does not come from
the infant, but the adult. It is the mature Jesus who offered himself for us
that we are called to worship and serve. May we come to him and allow him his
place in our hearts and lives, in submission and obedience, that the promise of
peace spoken at his birth can be realized in us through his life, death, and
resurrection. "For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men,
himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, the testimony to
be borne in its own times" (1 Tim. 2:5-6).
Robert Johnson, Longview, TX